This application claims the priority of German application 197 15 873.0, filed Apr. 16, 1997, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a center console area for a motor vehicle, and more particularly to a center console area having a center console crossmember which can be fixed on holding sections in the area of its opposite front ends with the interposition of at least one compensating wedge on two lateral support columns of a body supporting structure of the motor vehicle, and to which a steering system is assigned on a driver side.
A center console area is shown DE 43 37 467 A1. In this center console area, a complete center console for a vehicle interior of a motor vehicle, preferably a passenger car, can be premounted on a center console crossmember extending along the vehicle width. For mounting the center console premounted on the center console crossmember in the passenger compartment, the center console is placed between two A-columns serving as support columns of the vehicle body supporting structure, and subsequently the center console crossmember is fixed by holding sections provided in the area of its opposite front ends by way of fastening screws at fastening points of the support columns. In order to compensate tolerances between the width of the center console and of the center console crossmember as well as the spacing between opposite support columns, one compensating wedge respectively is assigned to the two opposite holding sections of the center console crossmember, which compensating wedge is in each case held in an upper mounting position by means of a securing element.
As the result of the removal of each securing element in this known arrangement, the two compensating wedges slide automatically downward because of their own weight until they have filled in the gap which in each case remains between the assigned support column and the holding section of the center console crossmember and are wedged between these. The fastening screws are now tightened so that a secure connection is established between the center console crossmember and the support columns. The removal of the securing elements with the simultaneous alignment of the center console crossmember with respect to the support columns, however, requires certain additional mounting expenditures. If, in addition, the fastening screws not be completely tightened, the compensating wedges between the support columns and the center console crossmember may become loose particularly in the case of vibrations of the vehicle and eliminates the close connection between the center console crossmember and the support columns.
An object of the present invention to provide a center console area which, while reducing the mounting expenditures, ensures a secure connection between the center console crossmember and the support columns.
This object has been achieved in accordance with the present invention by providing that the compensating wedge is disposed by way of a bearing arrangement on the assigned holding section of the center console crossmember. The bearing arrangement thereby allows the compensating wedge to be changed in a forcibly guided manner from a mounting position into an operative position to compensate tolerances between the center console crossmember and the support columns. The bearing arrangement has a stop for fixing the compensating wedge in its mounting position, and fixing devices which act, in particular, in a form-locking manner, are assigned to the compensating wedge for securing the compensating wedge in its operative position.
The bearing arrangement including the stop according to the invention makes possible keeping the compensating wedge, on one hand, fixed in its mounting position and nevertheless, on the other hand, without the additional releasing of the securing element directly out of this mounting position, achieve a changing of the compensating wedge into the operative position. The forced guidance of the compensating wedge between the mounting position and the operative position can take place either by a rotational or by a translational movement.
The fixing devices ensure that the compensating wedge will also be held securely in its operative position when no fixedly tightened connection exists between the support columns and the center console crossmember. In the past, fixing devices were not provided for securing the compensating wedge in its operative position. Rather, the fixing of the compensating wedge in its operative position took place exclusively by the force-locking contact on the support column and on the holding section of the center console crossmember because of the tightened screwed connections.
In a particularly advantageous way, the fixing devices of the present invention have a form-locking effect. The direction of the form closure relates to the movement direction of the compensating wedge relative to the holding section. Thus, in contrast to the conventional approach in which the fixing of the compensating wedge in its operative position took place exclusively by the force-locking contact on the support column and on the center console crossmember, as the result of the form-locking effect, also independently of a possibly non-existing force-locking by means of the fastening screws, a secure positioning of the compensating wedge in its operative position is ensured with the present invention.
The form-locking effect of the fixing devices is advantageous particularly with a translationally movable compensating wedge. With a rotationally movable compensating wedge, a fixing of the compensating wedge in its operative function can be achieved by a self-locking thread of the bearing arrangement coaxially to the axis of rotation.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the center console crossmember, in the area of the driver side, is fastened directly to the assigned support column. A compensating wedge is provided between the opposite holding section and the corresponding support column. As a result, only an individual compensating wedge is required, thereby considerably reducing the mounting expenditures. Because of the direct fastening of the center console crossmember to the support column adjacent to the steering system and therefore also to the steering column as contemplated by the present invention, a considerable shortening of the tolerance chain is achieved between the support column and the steering system. Thus, a maintenance of narrow tolerances is achieved with respect to the position of the steering system relative to the vehicle body supporting structure. By providing only a single compensating wedge, the number of parts for mounting the center console on the motor vehicle body supporting structure is also reduced. The compensating wedge may configured accordingly.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, guide surfaces for the rotational or translational forced guidance of the compensating wedge between its mounting position and its operative position are assigned to the compensating wedge and the corresponding holding section. As the result, a particularly simple change of the compensating wedge into the operative position or the mounting position is permitted.
Yet another feature of the present invention assigns at least one oblong hole section to the compensating wedge in the area of the fastening points between the support column and the center console crossmember. The oblong hole section extends corresponding to the compensating path and has a width which is smaller than a thread diameter of at least one assigned fastening screw of the fastening points. The fastening screw or screws is/are self-grooving. Since the oblong hole section has a smaller width than the thread diameter of the fastening screw(s), during the screwing-in, the fastening screw(s) cuts into the edges of the at least one oblong hole section. Thereby, a form closure is achieved in the direction of the compensating path and therefore in the moving direction of the compensating wedge. The form closure holds the compensating wedge in its operative position.
A further feature of the present invention involves a translationally guided compensating wedge. Suspension devices serving as a stop are provided on the compensating wedge and on the pertaining holding section of the center console crossmember for the mounting position of the compensating wedge. The compensating wedge can be displaced relative to the holding section from its mounting position upwards relative to the vertical direction of the vehicle. This arrangement is a particularly simple and operationally reliable further embodiment because the compensating wedge need only be suspended on the pertaining holding section of the center panel crossmember. Because the compensating wedge is pushed upward, it is automatically disengaged from the corresponding suspension elements on the holding section of the center console crossmember so that it can be changed without any additional manipulations directly from the mounting position into the operative position. In particular, suspension hooks constituting the suspension elements are provided on the compensating wedge, and pertaining suspension noses or pins are provided on the holding section of the center panel crossmember.
In a further aspect of the present invention, with respect to a translationally forcibly guided compensating wedge, lateral guides are assigned to the corresponding oblique contact surfaces of the compensating wedge and of the holding section on opposite edge areas. This is another particularly simple and operationally reliable solution, particularly since the lateral guides can be shaped in one piece onto the compensating wedge or onto the holding section of the center console crossmember.